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Almost a fifth of the public believes that authorities deliberately withhold important information about the pandemic from the crown. Distrust is highest among supporters of the Swedish Democrats, according to a report by the Som Institute.
Eighteen percent of those surveyed in the Som Institute survey of the corona pandemic believe that authorities deliberately withhold important information from the public. File photo of a press conference with the National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Public Health Agency and MSB.
Before the summer, the Som Institute asked randomly selected people in Sweden about their confidence in what authorities are communicating about the covid-19 pandemic.
Of those who took part in the survey, 18 percent answered that the statement ‘Swedish authorities knowingly withhold important information about the coronavirus from the population’ was totally or partially true.
Half of the respondents thought the statement was completely wrong, 10 percent thought it was partially wrong, while around 20 percent had no opinion.
The survey also asked what reasons authorities may have for withholding information about the coronavirus. A large majority, 92 percent, responded that the reasons may be “just saying things they probably know.” 83 percent responded that one reason could be “not to scare people unnecessarily.”
– Swedes have a fairly high level of trust in the authorities, says Professor Bengt Johansson, who researches crisis communication at the University of Gothenburg.
But there are differences among the respondents. There are many more supporters of the Swedish Democrats who believe that the authorities are withholding information about the pandemic from the public. In this group, there are also more who believe that the reason for the retention may be that the authorities do not have the situation under control, or that they want to avoid criticism.
– There is a fairly strong political dimension here, says Bengt Johansson.
Som Institute
Available at the University of Gothenburg. The abbreviation that stands for society, opinion and media.
Questions are mailed to people between the ages of 16 and 85, who are randomly selected from the population register.
The proportion of respondents in annual surveys has slowly fallen from around 65% to 70% in the 1980s to around 50% in recent years.
The additional survey on the corona pandemic in the second quarter of this year was sent to 6,000 people. The response rate was 44 percent.
Source: Som Institute
